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BBC Worldwide has released impressive viewing figures for CBeebies shows in China which form its latest exports to the country following the success of drama Sherlock and natural history series Planet Earth II.

In May, digital streaming platform iQIYI became the first online service in China to offer a block of 37 CBeebies shows, branded思贝斯. Since then, the content has been viewed over 166 million times on iQIYI, which has acquired 300 hours of BBC children’s content including Dinopaws and Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures.

BAFTA and International Emmy award-winning show Hey Duggee has already attracted more than 200 million views on China’s online video platforms Tencent and iQIYI since they launched the CBeebies title in April and May respectively.

Further acceptance for the BBC in China came with the appearance of characters from its Go Jetters animated series in the Children’s Day Gala 2017, organised by state broadcaster China Central Television’s children’s channel (CCTV 14). The characters took part in the annual parade which was broadcast to an audience of 110 million and saw over 200 million streams on mobile streaming platforms – reaching three times the number of viewers in 2016.

“20 years ago we had great success taking Teletubbies to international audiences. Now Hey Duggee and Go Jetters are the new British kids’ shows enthralling children all around the world,” said Tim Davie, chief executive, BBC Worldwide.

Kelvin Yau, general manager for China, said: “Chinese children love CBeebies for the stories and characters. Their parents love it because they know the content is always suitable and helps their children to learn while having fun.”